Two farmers, Walter Hyland and Bill Olson, were inducted into the Essex County Agricultural Hall of Fame in Harrow last week.
Olson, a Lakeshore farmer in the Ruscom area, was the president of the Essex County Federation of Agriculture in 1988 when local farmers were devastated by a drought.
He led a committee to help farmers get financial aid from the federal government and in 1989 led a committee to help farmers affected by the Harrow flood.
Olson, who started as a hog farmer in the 1970s and also grew corn, wheat and soybeans, had served as a board member with the Essex County Federation of Agriculture for 13 years and worked on a book on its history. His induction into the hall of fame was sponsored by the federation.
The hall of fame announcement said Olson “defended continually the rights of the farmer in everything he did.”
Hyland’s induction was sponsored by the Essex County Soil and Crop Improvement Association where he was the president in 1985 and a director for 10 years.
Hyland grew up on a dairy farm in Essex and bought his own farm in 1954 on his 21st birthday. He had Holstein cows for milk and also grew soybeans, corn, wheat, hay and seed corn. From 1960 to 1976, he grew tomatoes for Heinz.
After being a dairy farmer for 50 years, he helped his son shift the farm’s focus to field crops and raising beef cattle. The Essex farm was on the Farm Hiker Tour three times including 2012.
Hyland was praised for being among the first to adopt new technology to increase yields and improve farming practises.
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